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Thursday, April 16, 2009

With all the smack talk about Giada's bounteous assets, I must admit that 90% of my jesting is driven by pure jealousy. Have you seen her new TV show, Giada at Home? Talk about living in luxury. Giada's home is the epitome of the gorgeous seaside house I'd like to have one day, but probably never will. Ok, I'm also jealous of her big smile. There, I've said it.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can better concentrate on food. Hubby and I have a lot of favorites, but this pizza is certainly up there. It's perfect in that it can be as easy or as complicated as you wish. We've made this with both homemade dough and Trader Joe's dough. The same goes for the sauce. As much as I love making my dough from scratch on the weekends, TJ's refrigerated pizza dough is so yummy & so cheap that it's hard to even think of stressing myself out about how I can get dough to rise while I'm at work.

If you're lucky enough to have a Henry's in your area, please get up and go try their market fresh sausage, homemade each morning. They have quite a few different flavors and our favorites have been the pesto, garlic & herb and sweet Italian sausages. Cooking the sausage in the sauce helps flavor both the sauce and the meat.

*Just a tip for TJ's pizza dough: be sure to prebake it before putting on sauce and toppings. It can get soggy otherwise.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.If using TJ's pizza dough, allow it to rest for about 15-20 minutes on a floured surface. On a floured surface, roll out pizza dough. Mine never ends up in a perfect circle, so use your creativity :)

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and break up links. Once sausage is browned, but not fully cooked, add pasta sauce and allow to simmer.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add lacinato kale and allow to sit for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt and garlic. Toss the kale and add 1 tbsp of water. Cover and let steam for about 2 additional minutes. Remove from heat once done.

Pre-cook pizza crust for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Spread sausage pasta sauce on pizza dough. Place kale on top and sprinkle entire pizza with mozzarella cheese.

Return pizza to oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is thoroughly melted .

I always figure her daughter is upstairs being taken care of by a nanny while Giada cooks. Did you see the one where her husband and their friend go surfing and she makes this fabulous feast for them? What a life!

I love your pizzas. I've never been a huge kale fan, but maybe I would like it in pizza!

I have wanted to try the TJ pizza dough, but been afraid as it's really hard to find a good dough around. So I take it you like and therefore I must try it, because I know you have high standards in food too.I love Giada and her recipes, but have yet to see that show.

Lol now I have to see that show, I want to see her house! I don't think I've seen it yet! I don't think I could ever get tired of pizza or greens, in fact, I just made some this week :P. I usually put spinach on mine, I'll have to try it with kale!

mmm... i love pizza. and my husband and i were talking about our future wonderful garden we'll have when we aren't in apartment living and he asked if i liked kale - this looks like a great thing to use it for! i'll add it to my garden list!

first of all, i love the crispy crust. why, oh why can't there be a tj's around here?secondly, great topping choices! the end result is stunning and undoubtedly delicious--i could probably eat the entire pie myself. :)

This pizza looks great!!! I had some issues with TJ's pizza dough so I appreciate your tips.

I'm a little jealous of Giada as well :) Have you seen her view from her kitchen window???!!!! Amazing! I used to have some animosity towards her, but I finally gave in and think she's adorable and very talented!